Anderson: League Cup win ‘incredible feeling’

CAPTAIN Russell Anderson admitted it was an “incredible feeling” as Aberdeen ended their long wait for silverware after beating Inverness on penalties to win the Scottish League Cup final.

The Dons had not tasted success since winning this competition back in 1995 but they were final able to get their hands on a trophy again after defeating Inverness 4-2 on spot-kicksafter the match had finished goalless after extra time.

A delighted Anderson, who is in his second stint with his home-town club, told BBC1 Scotland: “It’s an incredible feeling, it’s been a long time coming.

“Very nervous, tense day. The longer the game went on you just wondered if it would go to penalties. The players have taken some great penalties, and I think we deserve it.”

Aberdeen could also have another cup final to look forward to as they are in the semi-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup, and Anderson hopes this result can help them go on and clinch a trophy double.

“You’d like to think so, it’s not going to hinder us anyway. Now we’ve won one it will give us confidence to finish the season strongly,” he said.

Midfielder Barry Robson was equally thrilled with the win and was not bothered that they needed the lottery of a penalty shoot-out to lift the title.

“We’ve won the game, that’s the most important thing, I don’t care if it’s penalties, I don’t care how we play, we’ve just won the cup,” the 35-year-old said.

“It’s great, it’s brilliant. It’s been a long time coming for this club.

“It’s sensational, you can see what it means to the people.”

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes also admitted the most important thing for him was getting some silverware back in the club’s trophy cabinet, rather than worrying how they managed to do it.

The former St Johnstone and Bristol City boss, whose side were roared on by 40,000 fans at Celtic Park, said: “Absolutely ecstatic. You see what it means to so many people.

“We were well aware when we took the job of the need and desperation of getting a trophy again and getting Aberdeen successful,” added the 42-year-old, who took over at Pittodrie last year.

“It was a tight final. I thought we had the greater opportunities and once it comes down to penalty kicks you’ve got to back yourselves and take them with confidence, and I thought our penalties were different class.

“Thankfully Jamie (goalkeeper Langfield) has managed to save one. It’s unfortunate for Inverness, who had a good final, it was a tight game as I said, but the overriding thing for us was just to win the game, no matter how we did it.”